1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hand-held seed planter devices and more particularly to an improved, hand-held seed planter that features a staff or shaft with an attached seed delivery tube, the lower end portion of the staff being specially shaped to compress a soil mass both underneath and on the side of a cavity that receives the seed to be planted.
2. General Background of the Invention
The effective planting of seed requires preparation of the seed base. A seed has an enhanced chance of success if the cavity that receives the seed has compacted soil, both under and around the seed.
Patents have issued for hand held mechanical devices that enable a user to plant seed. One example of such a device is U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,939 issued to Chancey. The Chancey patent discloses a seed planter having a seed drop tube entrance opening connected to a seed drop tube with a planter assembly leading to a seed release bracket and lever assembly. The device includes a hinged soil penetrator and seed release gate assembly.
Other manually operated seed planters include U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,977 to Maisch; U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,543 issued to Mitchell; U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,981 issued to Kelly; U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,697 issued to Yeager; U.S. Pat. No. 4,206,714 issued to Walsh; U.S. Pat. No. 4,290,374 issued to Maple; U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,760 issued to Camp; U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,807 issued to Keller; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,797 issued to Tumlin.
Other patents that disclose devices that dispense seeds include, as examples, U.S. Pat. Nos. 431,841; 1,830,283; 5,131,570; and 5,584,256.
Many of these patents are complicated to construct and to use. Many require expensive springs and levers and/or valve members that need to open in order to dispense the seeds. Some have complicated linkage that requires hand operation in order to dispense seeds at the opposing end of the device.